Light of the Moon
by jkmrsy
Summary: This is a story from my Quizilla account that was recently deleted along with most everyone else's content. It's basically a love story for Kiba and might contain some bashing of characters I might or might not like-just for the character's personality.
1. Chapter 1

**Name:** Kimiko Maionakka

**Age:** 13

**Personality:** Short Tempered, Smart, Sarcastic at times, Protective of friends, Loves animals

**Abilities:** Kimiko is strong, extremely fast, and has a high tolorance for pain. Her family's keke-genkai is that she can make her own jutsus without any hand signs. Even though the jutsus she creates aren't the actual keke-gankai, the sharingan can't copy them. She also has some medical abilities. She can tell where and how badly a person is hurt, though she's not skilled in the actual healing yet. She is skilled in taijutsu and can talk to animals. Telepathy runs in her family as well, so she can read minds and talk to someone in their head.

**History:** Kimiko was born in the middle of a big war. The Village Hidden In The Waterfall-the village she lived in-was in alliance with the Village Hidden In The Leaves against the Stone and Grass Villages. Her parents were both ninja fighting in the war.

Her mother never should have been fighting. She was highly pregnant and was due any day. But she was too proud and strong willed to listen to the doctors' orders on staying safe in the village. She and her husband-Kimiko's father-were killed shortly after her birth.

Kimiko grew up with a hard life. Most people hated her because when she was born, a three tailed fox demon named Shingai was sealed insided of her by an enemy ninja after he killed her mom in hopes that the child would be trusted as a war orphan, and then break down the village from the inside. Unfortunately for him, somebody found out, and the news was quickly spread through the village.

Kimiko was allowed to live and was fostered by her uncle to be a possible weapon of the village someday. He frowned upon it and wanted her to have as normal a childhood as possible. She never knew her parents though, because nobody ever bothered to tell her about them. Not even her uncle.

His wish for her to be normal was never realized however, when paranoid soldiers of the war broke in the night of her fifth birthday and attempted to assassinate her. Her uncle was killed trying to protect her.

Because of her advanced mind, she was already slightly skilled in using her keke-genkai, which had bloomed two years prior unlike most. She went into a fit of dispair and rage, killing the men without realizing it until they were unmoving on the bloodstained floor. Anyone that didn't already hate her, shunned her from that day on.

At age seven she had become sick of the hatred and was slowly falling into a depression. She didn't want to go on a rampage again and kill innocent people so for her health and that of the village, she gathered her things, all the food she could carry, and a tent to sleep in and left.

From there she traveled for her whole life until she was thirteen. She came upon the Leaf Village one day in her travels and remembered stories her uncle had told her about the war and how kind his friends were. She decided to live there and start anew. She bought a small house with the money she had earned doing various jobs in other villages over the years and by selling some of her things.

Naruto met her within her first week in the village and the two became quick friends. She had even become friends with Gaara when she had visited the Hidden Sand. He became tolerable of her due to her unfrightened nature dispite what she had been told. She kept mostly to herself though, and was an unkown to everyone else around her.

**Looks:** Kimiko has sun-kissed skin and brown eyes. Her chocolate hair is usually held up in a high ponytail that goes down to her mid back. She wears a navy blue cutoff spaghetti strap shirt and short sleeved fishnet shirt over top. She uses two blue strips of cloth around her shoulders to hold a pair of kunai on her back. Her capris are also navy with a clear strip up the side to her mid thigh. She has a gray belt and she keeps her shuriken holster around her right thigh. Her outfit also has fingerless, fishnet gloves and navy sweatbands. She also wears navy shinobi sandals.

* * *

><p>Kimiko was walking through the forest one bright and sunny day, berry picking when she heard a whimper. She looked around and found nothing, though she knew better. Something had made the sound and she just had to find it. There was a slight rustle and another whine. She looked under the bush she had been ransacking when she noticed a fox kit.<p>

It looked up at her with sad, frightened little eyes and she noticed that it was covered in thorns from them bush. "Oh my goodness!" she said, picking up the kit by the scruff of his neck. "Are you okay little guy?" she asked him gently. It seemed shocked to understand the human, but responed. "No," he wimpered. "Why? What's wrong?" Kimiko asked, starting to work the thorns from his fur. "My mommy died. I've been alone for two weeks," he said, starting to cry the only way that a baby canine can.

It was breaking Kimiko's heart. "Don't cry, don't cry. I know what it feels like," she said sympathetically as she pulled the last thorn out. "I haven't had parents or someone to look after me since I was five and I'm thirteen now." The kit stared up at her with sorrowful eyes, seeming to silently beg her not to leave. She kissed his head and propped him on her shoulder. "How would you like to come home with me?" she asked, smiling up at him. He managed a small smile and nodded. She bent down and grabbed her full basket. Then she headed in the direction of the village.

On the way back to her house Kimiko fed the kit berries and made small conversation with him, so as to cheer him up. "So, do you have a name?" she asked. "Yeah! I'm Houka!" he smiled. "Doesn't that mean fire?" she asked, wondering at the name. "Yeah. My mom named me that because I'm more orange than any other fox she'd ever seen," he explained.

It made sense. He was a startling bright orange the color of the setting sun.

The two walked in silence the rest of the way to the village, though it was only a few minutes. Kimiko walked down the main street of the village when she was stopped by a loud voice. "Hey, Kimiko!" it yelled from behind her.

"Naruto..." she sighed, knowing her friend couldn't ever be calm. "Who?" Houka asked. "Naruto. He's one of my friends," she explained.

"Hey Kimiko!" Naruto ran up to the brunette, panting. "Hey Naruto! Look who I found in the forest!" she smiled, holding Houka in Naruto's face. Naruto put on a big grin and patted the kit on the head. "He's cute. What's his name?" he asked. "His name's Houka. It fits don't ya think?" she said. "Cool," Naruto replied, looking the young fox over. "It does fit him."

"Hey, you want to come with me to my house? I'm gonna bake a pie," she offered, knowing the boy wouldn't pass up free food. He diliberated for a moment, taking longer than expected. She gazed into his mind and at the forefront was his favorite food in the world. "I'll make ramen," she smirked, knowing exactly which button to push.

"Okay!" he yelled. Naruto ran off in the opposite direction. She laughed to herself. "Naruto, my house is this way," she said, pointing in the other direction. Naruto stopped and walked back. "Right...I was just..uhhh...I got nothing," he said, a slight blush dusting his cheeks.

Kimiko laughed and put Houka back on her shoulder. Naruto grinned and playfully punched her. Then they walked off in the right direction, chatting about this and that. When they got back to Kimiko's house she put Houka down to explore. Naruto sat at the table and she walked around the counter to the kitchen. She bent over, glancing around the corner to make sure that the blonde wasn't watching. Thankfully he was preoccupied with the fox kit.

She quickly pulled out some ramen from a secret compartment filled with the stuff. It was there so she would have some whenever Naruto came by, but so he couldn't find it and wipe her out. She then put some water on the stove and turned it on. "So what kind do you want?" she asked, not really caring due to the fact that she already had it out.

"Pork?" he answered in a questioning tone. "Yeah, I can do that," she said, glad that she had the right flavor for him. She let the soup cook while she prepared a pie with the berries she had picked earlier. The ramen was done in a few minutes and she poured her friend a bowl and handed it to him. He took it while she set the pot on the table. He gawked at it. The pot was bigger than his head! "I know you Naruto. That pot won't last long with you around," she smirked knowingly. Naruto smiled and put his hands behind his head, rubbing at it nervously before digging in.

Houka was curled up in a corner by the time the pie was done. Kimiko brought it out of the oven and set it on the window sill to cool, Naruto watching her and drooling at it the whole time. "Keep your paws off Naruto. Try anything and you die," she warned. "I'm inviting Gaara to come over later so we can all have dinner and then you can eat some for dessert."

Naruto wiped his mouth with his sleeve. "So what do we do until Gaara gets here?" he asked, scanning the room. He was looking for anything interesting to do. Games, trinkets, books-though reading was never his strong point. "Do you want to exchange stories about our pasts again?" Kimiko asked, trying to save her living room. "Sure," he said, sufficiently distracted.

She and Naruto had always told each other stories about their lives and pasts. Suprisingly though, neither of them knew about the other's demon. They both had a seal on their stomachs, but neither ever questioned it.

Since the oven was on for a few hours to bake the pie the house had gotten pretty heated. Naruto-being the whine baby he sometimes was-said it was getting pretty hot and asked if Kimiko would mind him taking his shirt off. She rolled her eyes but told him that she didn't really care. He unzipped his jacket and took his shirt off and she just looked at him. The black had caught her eye and now she was preoccupied with looking at the markings. They made her wonder at the theory that had been building in her head for the past half year.

"What?" Naruto asked, feeling self concious. "Nothing..." she said. "I was just thinking...why do you have that seal?" Naruto looked at her, unsure if he should answer. "I'd rather not tell you...you might not like me anymore," he said, coming to a decision. She snorted. He was insane! "Naruto, that's ridiculous. You're my friend and I would like you no matter what," she said.

"But most people hate me because of it," he protested. "Naruto...Gaara's been killing his whole life and I still like him. What makes you think that I would hate you?" she reasoned. Naruto sighed and finally agreed. He told Kimiko about the Nine Tailed Fox and how he was hated by most people for his whole life. The other kids their age didn't know anything about the demon, but the fear and hatred of their parents was enough to make them treat Naruto like a parasite. She was shocked.

"You too?" she whispered. "What?" Naruto asked in disbelief. "I have a demon inside me too. She was put in me by an enemy ninja trying to destroy my village. The war that your parents died in was the same war that my parents did," she explained. Naruto's jaw nearly dropped to the floor.

Kimiko continued to tell the blonde all about her past and how everyone in her home village hated her for being alive, though she had never harmed anyone until the incident. Naruto's story was pretty much the same aside from having family and one killing. The two continued sharing stories of their lives and pasts until Gaara was there.

There was a knock on the door and Kimiko and Naruto dropped the subject. Gaara was let inside and the three talked while Kimiko cooked. The red-head stared blankly at the kit as that story was explained to him, but he attempted to pet it none the less.

The trio ate dinner in silece. It was a comfortable silece that was also a bit surprising due to Naruto's usually loud nature. When Kimiko gazed into his mind she saw that he was too preoccupied thinking of their earlier conversation to say much of anything. She didn't blame him. It was all she could think about too.

When dinner was finished Naruto dove directly into the pie. Thankfully, Gaara had snagged a few pieces for himself and the girl before it was gone. He was secretly a nice kind of guy-though he didn't like to show it at all-and there was one quirk that he loved to use against his friend. He had this habbit of teasing Kimiko to make her blush. He wasn't good with emotion, but he probably found it amusing, so when he and Naruto were leaving he leaned over and pecked her on the cheeck.

She felt the heat rush to her face and she stared down at the floor. Naruto laughed at her discomfort, snapping her out of it. She and Gaara both smirked as she pushed the pair out the door-Naruto a little rougher than neccessary. "Very funny Gaara," she said sarcastically. "Night guys!" "Goodnight Kimiko," they said as the walked off, Gaara lingering a bit longer as she shut the door.

As she turned around Houka sat at her feet staring up at her. "Do you like him?" he asked. "Yes. Why?" she asked. "He kissed you and you got red," he said in a questioning tone. "Oh!" she said, coming to the kit's conclusion. "Yes, I like him but not like that. He just does that to be funny," she said, trying to explain it like she would to a child.

"Oh, okay," he said. "That wasn't very funny." Kimiko laughed. "No, you're right. He's a boring person, so he doesn't know how to be funny right." The fox smiled and laughed with her.

Then she went up the stairs to her bedroom with Houka on her tail. He went straight to her bed and curled up at the foot to fall asleep. She stayed up for another half hour, thinking about how she and Naruto were the same. Before she knew it, the time had drifted into the early A.M. and she fell asleep watching the stars.


	2. Chapter 2

"KIMIKO! WAKE UP!" a shrill voice screamed. "What? Where's the emergency?" Kimiko said, sitting up to see Houka on top of her. He was looking down at her, smiling.

"What did you wake me up for?" she asked a little sourly.

"I'm hungry," he whined.

Kimiko sighed and sat up. Houka got off of her and jumped from the bed. She walked out of her room and downstairs into the livingroom. She gave Houka some leftovers from last night's dinner. Then she looked in the fridge for breakfast. After fixing herself some rice balls she went upstairs to take a shower.

When she came out she brushed her hair and continued with the norm. As she finished her morning routine she heard a sound in her room.

She grabbed her silk bathrobe and put it on, walking into her room. When she saw Naruto standing there she shrieked and threw the closest thing to her at him. That one thing just turned out to be her alarm clock. It hit Naruto square in the head.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY ROOM?" she screamed. "Nothing! I just came to tell you tha-" he started. "No...get out of my room and wait in the kitchen for me!" she said, cutting him off. "But..." he protested. "NOW!" she yelled as she pointed out her door "Okay!" he said, shuffling around his friend. Naruto ran out of the room before Kimiko got the chance to pelt him with more random things.

A few minutes later she came down wearing her ninja gear. She walked over to Naruto glaring at him. He put his arms up over his head to protect himself. "Naruto...I'm not going to hurt you. Now what did you want?" she said.

"The Hokage wanted to see you," he said, lowering his arms.

"What does the old man want now?" she asked. "I don't know...he just said that he wanted to see you," he said. "Okay," she sighed.

Naruto left and she walked out a few minutes later, after getting her things together. Houka wanted to come, but she told him otherwise. She had a feeling that something bad was going to happen.

Her fears were confirmed when she was walking down the street on the way to the Hokage Tower. She noticed a raven haired boy. 'Sasuke...' she thought bitterly. She didn't know the boy, but just from what Naruto told her she hated him. 'Oh well...best to be friendly,' she thought to herself not wanting to make enemies.

She walked on and as she passed him she talked. "Hello Sasuke," she said. "Pft..." was his answer. She stopped and turned around. This was not going to be good. She got easily pissed off when people didn't use common curtosey.

"You could at least say hi back," she said.

"Like I need another fangirl..." he said. Okay, eww...

"I'm not a fangirl. I just said hi!" she said. "Whatever," he said, ignoring her. That was it. She lost her temper.

"Listen Sasuke, you have got to be the most self centered, bratty, ass in the history of the world!" she yelled.

"What did you say?" he said, turning back toward the girl. "You heard me!" she yelled.

"Don't get me angry," he warned. "Why? Your stupid little curse mark going to act up?" Kimiko taunted. He grabbed the curse mark on his neck. "How did you know about that?" he asked. "That's none of your business," she defended. In truth, Naruto had told her. He wasn't supposed to know. Not even his team told him, but he had a way of finding things out. "Considering you're talking about me..it is my business!" Sasuke yelled.

"I'd just like to know why you act like such an ass! Just because you lost your family doesn't mean that everyone else is worthless!" she yelled. "SHUT UP! YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT IT!" he yelled back. She struck a nerve. "Yeah I do! I was on my own ever since I was five!" she yelled, a small lump forming in her throat.

He just stared at her as if he didn't know what to say. He was confused. Kimiko looked into his past with her telepathic abilities in a few seconds and felt almost sorry for him. She sighed.

"Listen..Sasuke...I understand that you want to kill him, but you don't have to put everyone beneath you," she said. "Don't even go near that subject you stupid little bitch! I told you..you don't know anything about it!" he yelled. Okay, that was it. She had tried to be nice and he was just rejecting it all in favor of yelling and screaming at her.

"Oh yeah? Itachi might have made you relive it, but I had to see my only family member left get killed in front of me and I couldn't do anything about it. I actually killed when I was a child and now everyone from my village hates me for it. You don't know what that's like and what it can put you through. And that curse mark...it's going to make you go power mad and eventually leave to join Orochimaru. You'll probably hurt or even kill people that mean something to you and that you mean a lot to. So stop being such an ass, you bastard!" she said, her words going from normal to a scream.

"That's it! You think that you can go around ridiculing me?" he yelled. He took a stance and made a couple of hand signs. "FIRE STYLE! FIREBALL JUTSU!" he yelled.

Kimiko quickly made a shield of water around herself, flowing in all different directions to reinfoce it. As the fire hit she could see the fire turn to steam as her shield put it out. "Okay...I am so done with being nice!" she said to herself.

She got down on all fours and crossed her arms. Dirt started flying in a circle around her body. Her eyes changed to clear rings with water droplets inside. "MIONAKKA STYLE! WATER ROPES JUTSU!" she yelled out. "What the-" Sasuke didn't get a chance to finish as ropes of water shot out of the ground near Kimiko and lashed out toward him. He was caught before he had the chance to dodge.

Then Kimiko lifted him into the air. "ICE!" she yelled. The ropes turned to ice, though they were still flexible. The ropes squeezed his body and then lifted him even higher into the air before slamming him back to the ground.

Kimiko was standing by now and she held out her arms on both sides. Then she brought them up over her head with her eyes closed and brought her hands down past her face in a hand sign. When she opened her eyes they were normal again and the ropes fell to the ground around her becomimg puddles.

Sasuke was out cold and she could tell that one of his ribs were cracked. Nothing major. She picked him up and put him on her back. She carried him piggyback to the hospital and explained his condition. Of course she didn't mention that she was the one to do it. She just told the nurse that he got into a fight and got his butt kicked. They took him and said he should be out in a couple of days since the rib wasn't broken.

Then Kimiko remembered that she had to see the Hokage. She ran through the village until she came to a building with the fire kanji written on it. She walked in and was greeted by a guard ninja. He said that the Hokage was waiting for her and pointed her in the right direction. When she came to the Hokage's office she knocked on the door and walked in without waiting for a reply.

"What's up old man?" she asked. The third Hokage sighed. "I thought I told you not to call me that." "Yeah..okay...so what's up?" she said, repeating herself.

"I think that it's time for you to become an honorary Leaf ninja," he said exasperatedly. "Really?" she asked. "Yes. We're going to go to the training grounds and I'll explain the rest there," he said.

They left in a puff on smoke and appeared at the training grounds. All of the rookie teams and their senseis were there along with a couple of other ninja. Sasuke was missing of course.

"I'm going to have you fight a genin, chunin, and jonin until you lose to one. The one you loose to will deside your rank as you will be ranked one rank below the person you lost to," the old man said. "Okay," she agreed. "First fight...Sasuke Uchiha," he said.

"That was easy!" Kimiko said, smiling. "What do you mean?" one of the ninja asked. "Hey! Where is Sasuke?" Naruto asked. "Yeah...about that. I kinda met him on the way to the Hokage's office and we had a little...disagreement," the girl said, smiling nervously.

"Oh no..."Naruto said. "What did you do to him?" asked Gaara.

"Well...I walked by and said hi. Then he practically ignored me and I told him that he could at least say hi back. Then he said that he didn't need another fangirl and I told him that I wasn't a fangirl and had just said hi" she stared explaining. "So we got to talking and he lost his temper and did his fireball jusu on me. I blocked it with a water shield, though. Right now he's in the hospital with a cracked rib," she finished.

A blonde girl dressed in purple jumped out of the group. "Yeah right...Sasuke is the best!" she said. Sakura-Naruto had also mentioned her-followed up on the blonde's comment. "Yeah! He'd never lose to you!" she said.

"I knocked him out cold in two moves!" Kimiko retorted. That shut the girls up. They were left speechless, with their mouths open.

"How? I want to know! It's got to be awsome!" Naruto burst out. "It is! I used my keke-genkai a-" she started. The Hokage broke in and cut her off. "You used your keke-genkai? That is only for intense situations and not for little arguments," he said. "Relax..my keke-genkai is a little different. I can choose how intense it is," she said. A boy stepped out and Kimiko read his mind and found him to be Shikamaru. He was also a genius. "Like Sasuke's sharingan," he questioned.

"Yeah. So anyway...I used my keke-genkai and created water ropes and grabbed him and then turned them to flexible ice and slammed him to the ground," she continued. "Awsome!" Naruto shouted.

The Hokage stepped forward. "Kakashi, go to the hospital and confirm Kimiko's story," he said. A white haired man-Naruto's sensei-stepped out and said that he would ask if Sasuke was there and then disappeared in a poof of smoke. He came back in a few minutes and confirmed that Sasuke was in the hospital with a cracked rib.

Then she was paired up with a chunin and easily beat him.

Kakashi was the jonin that she was to fight. He and Kimiko stood off and the Hokage gave them the go ahead. She merely made what looked like a handsign and waited. Kakahi came at her and she stepped to the side. After a bit of fighting Kakashi finally got to her. He stabbed her and she turned into a puff of smoke.

"Do you think I'm that stupid?" she said from up in a tree. Kakashi turned around to look up at her. She jumped down and landed in front of him with the tree behind her. "Apparently you need more training. You made the mistake of giving your position away," Kakashi said. "Crap!" she swore.

Kimiko closed her eyes, making it look like she was trying to brace for pain. What she was really doing was eliminating one of her senses to highten the others. She felt the earth slightly shaking beneath her feet. She jumped just before Kakashi's hand came out of the ground to grab her. He emerged and looked up at her. "Do you think I'd fall for your head hunter jutsu?" she asked. She landed back where she had been standing.

He ran at her as she pulled a kunai out and he stabbed her arm causing her to turn to water. She came out from a bush behind Kakashi. "Surprise," she smiled. He jumped and turned around to see her with her sarcastic smirk.

While Kimiko was distracting the jonin, the real her came halfway out of the tree behind him and quickly put a kunai to his throat.

"Enough!" the Hokage's voice rung through the training grounds. "You can both stop fighting now and Kimiko..you are going to be ranked as a jonin," he said. The others were shocked. "That makes you the youngest jonin in history!" Shikamaru exclaimed. "Woah! That's awsome!" she said, jumping into the air.

Kakashi walked up to her. In his mind she noticed that she definitely was not the youngest jonin the Leaf had known. She was dead even with Kakashi, though. "That was a good fight you put up," the white-haired man said. "You too," she conceded. "If it doesn't bother you too much..I'd like to know how you made the clones without me seeing you," he asked.

"Well, I was ready for the whole fight. You see, near the end of my fight with the chunin I noticed you were talking to another sensei and I already knew that you were going to volunteer to fight me because you seemed really interested in my fighting style," she explained. "I knew that when you were talking you weren't paying attention to me so I made a shadow clone and the real me went into that tree."

"But that one was a clone too," Naruto interrupted. "I know that Naruto...and you should know what's going on since we've been friends ever since you met me," she said, slightly annoyed. Sometimes Naruto was so slow.

"Anyway..I closed my eyes not to brace for pain, but to highten my other senses. And when I gave my position away it was all part of the plan. I used my keke-genkai to allow me to make a clone while the real me stepped out of her and into the tree...literally! I made another clone and she channeled herself up through the tree and turned into a bird that flew across the field to the other side of that bush," she said, pointing to the bush that one of her clones had come out of. "Then, while she distracted you I came out of the tree just above you..and let's just say that if it had been a real battle..." she trailed off. "I would have been in trouble!" Kakashi finished for her.

She smiled and walked away as the Hokage called her over. She took the headband that he offered her and tied it around her right leg.

He left as she walked back to the group of shinobi and itroduced herself to everybody. After a while of mingling she decided to get out of the crowd and sit on a boulder at the edge of the small field because people still made her kind of uncomfortabe.

When Kimiko was staring at the sky, daydreaming and thinking about the day's events, a puppy jumped on her stomach. She gasped and sat up to look at him. A brown haired boy in a parka with red triangles on his cheeks ran up.

"I'm guessing that Akumaru is yours?" she asked. "Yeah...hey! How did you know his name?" the boy asked. "He told me," she said as if it was obvious. "You can understand him too?" he asked, amazed. "Yeah, I can talk to animals," she said, shocked that he could talk to the dog.

He smiled at her. 'Wow he's cute,' she thought. "But it's not like I can't tell him that!'

She looked around and only just noticed that it was late and she and the boy were the only ones there. He looked at her and guessed that she noticed the time. "You want me to walk you home?" he offered. "Sure," she said, squealing on the inside.

The two walked to her house talking about random things. "By the way, I'm Kiba," he said.

So this was the boy Naruto faught in the preliminaries. He didn't seem that egotistic. He was being pretty nice and not even promoting himself in any way whatsoever.

"Kimiko," she said, shaking his hand. "Nice name," he said. They arived at Kimiko's house. "Well...this is my stop. Night Kiba," she said. "Night," he replied.

They smiled at each other as he left and she walked inside to her fox and the warmth of her home.


	3. Chapter 3

Kimiko woke up and thought back to the previous night. She remembered when Kiba walked her home and smiled to herself.

Houka walked into the room and noticed his human. "What are you smiling about?" he asked.

"Wha-? Oh nothing," she said, snapping out of her thoughts.

"Sure..." the kit said skeptically. "Oh shut up," Kimiko said.

"Yeah...okay. Can we get some breakfast?" he asked.

The girl got up and went downstairs to the kithen. Houka wanted some sausage and she thought it sounded pretty good as well. With that settled she made bacon, eggs, and some sausage. Then she got some water for Houka and apple juice for herself.

After she finished eating her breakfast she went upstairs for her normal morning routine. When she got out of the shower she dried off and got dressed. She went downstairs to find Houka with a note.

"What's that?" she asked.

"A ninja stopped by and wanted you to read this," he mumbled around the paper.

Kimiko took it and read it. It said that she was to meet the Hokage in his office to meet her new team. New team? She was a jonin-unless the Hokage found her fit to lead a squad already.

"Well at least Naruto wasn't in my room this time," she said to herself.

She put Houka on her shoulder and left the house.

Because she still had an hour to go to the Hokage's office, she decided to go to her favorite spot. She had always loved nature and when she found the falls it had always been her favorite.

On the hike through the woods, she noticed a cherry tree. It was her favorite in the whole forest. Even though she wasn't a big fan of pink, cherry blossoms always did it for her.

"Wow, it's bluming beautifully this year," she said, admiring it.

Houka looked at it and as they passed under it he grabbed a small branch in his mouth. The girl looked at him with interest. He just looked back at her and then put the twig of blossoms in her hair.

She smiled at him. "Thanks Houka!" she laughed.

"You're welcome!" he smiled back.

A few minutes later they arrived at the falls.

"Wow," the kit marvelled.

"You like it?" Kimiko asked.

"Yeah," he replied.

Kimiko went over to a tree and sat down. She had just closed her eyes when Akumaru was on top of her. Houka jumped and clung to her shoulder.

"Akumaru? What are you doing here?" she said.

Kiba came out from the other side of the tree. "I thought that I was the only one who knew about this place," he said.

"I thought I was. How long have you and Akumaru been coming here?" she asked.

"A few years," he said.

"You think we would have met each other," she speculated.

"I know," he said.

Houka broke in. "Kimiko, who is this?" he asked.

"This is my new friend Kiba. I met him last night," she said, introducing the two.

"I knew you were smiling for a reason!" the kit gloated.

"Shut up," Kimiko retorted.

This time Kiba interupted. "What are you two talking about?" he asked suspiciously.

"Nothing!" she said. Perhaps she said it a little too quickly. And the fact that she sounded almost frantic about it didn't help either.

"I'll believe that when pigs fly," Kiba said.

She playfully punched his shoulder. "Hey..nice hook," he complimented.

When he thought she wasn't looking he rubbed his shoulder mouthing out 'Ow'. Kimiko giggled to herself before the dog boy could notice.

Kiba walked up to her and asked if she wanted to go swimming. It wasn't neccessarily a strange question. There was a waterfall nearby and it was hot out. Not to mention, Kimiko wouldn't really notice if it was a strange question because she was deprived of socialization as a child anyway. But regardless, she had to deny him.

"No."

"Why?" he asked.

"I don't have anything to swim in," she said.

"Just swim in your clothes. They'll dry off," he said.

"I'm wearing white," she said.

"So?" he asked.

"So white becomes transparent when wet," she said dryly.

His face went red, realizing what she ment. "Oh..right," he said after a short pause.

"It's okay. I couldn't go even if I had something to swim in. I have to go to the Hokage's office," she explained.

"When?" he asked.

Kimiko calculated the time in her head and then quickly grabbed Houka. "Now! Oh my god..I'm so sorry that I have to leave, but I'll be late if I don't go now!" she said, hurrying away. Kiba and Akumaru ran after her.

"I'll come if you want," he offered. "Okay," she said, agreeing.

She was still running. Kiba grabbed her hand and stopped her. "I have a better idea," he said. Then he whistled and a huge dog came bounding up a few minutes later.

He lifted her from around her waist and put her on the dog's back before hopping up himself. She asked what he was doing and he explained that his family breeds dogs. Ninja hounds to be exact. They were bred to run faster than average dogs and to be able to run through the trees as well as fight. He was just giving her a ride.

They got there much quicker than they normally would have. Kimiko dismounted and so did Kiba. He told the dog to go home with Akamaru and then turned to the girl. "We should probably go inside now," he suggested.

"You think?" she snapped.

"Did you get up on the wrong side of the bed or something?" he asked.

The two walked in and headed for the Hokage's office. "Oh, sorry. I'm sarcastic a lot," she said. "Don't take it personally."

"Oh. That's okay then," he said.

As they arrived at the door to the Hokage's office Kiba said that he'd wait there. Kimiko walked inside after knocking. There was the Hokage and a small group of people standing there.

First there was a woman with very pale skin. She had red eyes and firey hair that reached to her ankles. She was wearing an orange jumpsuit with black stripes down the arms and legs and she kept it unzipped to her cleavage. Her sandles were black and she had a katana strapped to her back.

There were also two girls and a boy. The first girl had pale skin, brown eyes, and crimson hair pulled up in high pigtails behind her head. She was wearing a light pink shirt with a red collar. The shirt looked kind of formal, but some of her chainmail underneath was slightly visible. Her skirt was red and underneath she wore black shorts. Her shuriken holster was on her right thigh and her sandals were black.

The second girl had fair skin and white hair that reached her waist. Most of it was left down, but there were two braids with blue ribbons interwoven into them framing her face and brown eyes. She was wearing a type of beanie-purple in color with cat ears on top. She had a purple tanktop with a lavender cover that only allows the collor and the ends of the sleeves to be seen.

There was a small, purple strip of cloth holding the end of the tanktop to sleeves on each arm. She was also wearing a red wine colored skirt that was covered with a lattice pattern flowing from the bottom of the lavender shirt cover. Where it interlaced there were what looked like bells, but that didn't ring when moved. Lastly, she was wearing black thigh-high socks and black boots.

The boy was lightly tanned and had brown, windblown hair and brown eyes like the other two. He had an orange short-sleeved shirt on with a gray v-neck short-sleeve over that. His pants were normal shinobi ones, but light blue. His shuriken holser was on the left side and he was wearing blue shinobi sandals.

The Hokage walked up to stand next to the new jonin. "Kimiko, nice of you to come," he said disapprovingly.

She smiled and put a hand behind her head. "I overslept?" she said lamely.

The kids in the group turned to look."Uh-huh," the white-haired girl said.

"Okay okay. So I didn't sleep in. I just lost track of time," Kimiko admitted.

The woman looked at her. She frowned and crossed her arms. "Just make sure that it doesn't happen again," she said.

"No offense...but you're kinda bossy," Kimiko said.

"None taken," the woman said.

The Hokage broke in. "Kimiko, this is your new sensei, Suraisu," he said pointing to the woman.

"This," he pointed to the girl with red hair ",is Chishio. This is Shukumei," he pointed to the white haired girl. "And this is Yuujin. I think you two will get along well." He pointed to the boy.

"Why do you think we'll get along well?" Kimiko asked.

"You'll find out when you see his past," the Hokage said and winked at her.

"What do you mean by seeing my past?" the boy asked, confused.

Kimiko focoused on him and went through the maze of the human mind and into the back where his memories were to read his past. The blackness faded to a scene and she saw a little boy. Kimiko guessed him to be Yuujin. He had tears in his eyes.

"No..don't do it Heoku!" he yelled.

Then she saw the boy that she remembered so well. He was a boy a few years older than Yuujin and herself. He was fair skinned with brown eyes and green hair. He also wore a green jacket and black shirt. His pants were green and calf-length with a white stripe down the outside and his sandals were black. Heoku used to be her friend in the Hidden Mist Village until he gave everything up to become a rouge ninja.

In Yuujin's memories Heoku had a shuriken in his hand. Two adults whom Kimiko guessed to be the boy's parents were tied to a tree-hopeless.

The boy ran at Heoku, tears falling from his eyes. It was too late though. Heoku threw the shuriken and killed both the man and woman tied to the tree.

The boy stopped running from the horror. "Mom! Dad!" he screamed. He fell to the ground, crying.

Kimiko was shocked that Heoku would have done that. She wouldn't have been as shocked if he had done it after he left, but this was years before that! Heoku dissapeared and the boy just cried.

The memory faded out to black again. Kimiko left his mind and he looked at her confusedly. "Wow. I didn't think Heoku would have killed innocent people in front of you before becoming a rouge ninja," she whispered.

Yuujin stared at her in disbelief while the others did so in confusion. "It's like you read my mind to see my past," he said.

"I did," she said. "Well, that's the jist of it anyway..."

"Woah. Wait...you know Heoku?" he asked.

"Yeah. He used to be my friend, but now I hate him," she said.

Yuujin smiled at her. "Lord Hokage was right. We will get along well!" he smiled. The two laughed.

The team of five walked out and Kiba turned around. "New team?" he asked. "Yep," she said.

Chishio walked up beside her. "Now I know why you were late," she said suggestively.

"Huh?" Kimiko asked.

"You were making out with your boyfriend," the redhead said.

"HE'S NOT MY BOYFRIEND!" Kimiko yelled at the top of her lungs.

The rest of her team laughed while she and Kiba just scowled. Shukumei suggested that they all go and do their own thing for a while until they needed to meet for training or a mission. Everyone else seemed to agree and started walking off.

"Wait guys," Kimiko said, stopping the group. "How about you all come to my house for dinner tonight?"

"Sounds good to me!" Yuujin said.

"It's settled then," Suraisu announced.

Then they all left after Kimiko gave everyone directions to her house. Kiba walked with her to her house and she let him inside. She then headed up the stairs. Kiba followed her.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"To grab a bathing suit and put it under these clothes so we can go back to the falls," she explained as if it were obvious.

"That makes sense. I'll go to my house and grab my trunks," he said.

"Okay," she said, entering her room.

Kiba left and she went through her closet and finally found the suit after a few minutes. She put it on and then put her clothes back on over it. She walked downstairs, Houka following her, and out the door to find Kiba waiting in swimming trunks and a T-shirt. The two smiled at each other and headed to the falls.

On the way up, Kiba made the mistake of asking about her family. She turned to face him with cold eyes. "Don't bring that subject up ever again," she said.

"Why?" he asked.

Kimiko took a deep breath and started. "I never really knew my family," she said. "All I know is that my father died in the war and that my mother was killed after she gave birth to me. My uncle was the closest thing to a dad that I had. He was my only living relative and they killed him right in front of me when I was five."

"Who?" he asked.

"The bastards that tried to kill me because of Shingai!" she spat.

"Who's Shingai?" he asked.

Her eyes went wide and she covered her mouth realizing what she had just said. She had to think of a quick fix, even if it was a pathetic one. "I'd rather not talk about it. Mabey some other time, okay?" she fake sighed.

"Fine," he said, accepting it.

"I wish that my parents and uncle were still alive," she whispered to herself, a tear forming in her eye.

Kiba noticed and wiped it away. "C'mon, don't cry," he said.

She weakly smiled at him and kept on walking. Soon enough she was able to push it to the back of her mind.

When they got to the falls Kimiko started to strip down, but Kiba stopped her. He motioned for her to wait there. Then he pulled a picnic basket out from behind a tree.

"Kiba what's this?" she asked.

"I thought that I'd make us lunch," he said.

"That was sweet," she replied, smiling. He smiled a wide grin back.

'I wonder what he's thinking. I've got to check this out,' she thought to herself.

She focoused on him while he set up. 'Yes! It's working! Now I just have to keep impressing her. And make her and smile. She looks so cute when she does that,' he was thinking.

She pulled out of his mind. He had a crush on her? That was the one thing that she didn't expect. Nobody had ever liked her like that before! Hell, barely anybody had liked her period.

She walked over to the setup and sat down. She could tell by the direction of his thoughts that he was going to make her laugh and she had decided that she was going to make him laugh before he tried her. When he was drinking his milk, she made a funny face and a weird noise.

Milk came out of his nose and he burst out laughing. Just because the milk came out of his nose was enough to make her double over laughing as well. When the two finally caught their breath Kimiko gave the dog boy a napkin which he gladly accepted.

A while after they were done eating they decided to go swimming. He dunked her, but unfortunatley for him, she liked to play hardball.

She wrapped her legs around one of his and twisted them. His head went down and hit a rock. He came up gasping for air and then went under again. This time he didn't come up.

After a few seconds Kimiko was starting to get worried and dove under to find him unconcious. She grabbed his body and pulled it to shore then checked to see if he was breathing. He wasn't.

"Kiba! Please wake up!" she plead. "I don't know how to preform CPR! Just please be okay!"

One of his eyes opened. "Kimiko, I'm fine. I was just joking," he smirked.

"JOKING?" she screeched. "Kiba Inuzuka, that was a horrible thing to do! I was afraid you drowned!"

"Relax Kimiko. I'm fine and like I said...it was just a joke," he said, taken aback.

"That's not something you joke about! Besides...I've lost too many people to not take it seriously," she said.

She grabbed Houka and left with tears in her eyes. Kiba ran after her. He wasn't calling for her, but she could hear his thoughts loud and clear. 'Now you did it you idiot! She was acctually starting to warm up to you and you go and blow it by making her cry!'

Kimiko sped up until she spotted her cherry tree. It seemed comforting and that was exactly what she needed. She climbed up in it by walking straight up and then shuffled back into the braches.

Kiba came by, looking for her. She knew that he wouldn't be able to find her because she was too high up to notice and she had masked her chakra. He walked over to the tree though and climbed up into the branches with her.

"How did you know I was here?" she pouted.

"My chakra is concentrated in my nose, so I have the same sense of smell as a dog," he explained. "I already know your scent."

"Oh," she said quitly.

"I'm really sorry about that. You're right...that wasn't something to joke about," he said.

He seemed sincere. Kimiko sighed and looked away. He kept looking at her, waiting for an answer. When he didn't get one he decided to press further. "Please accept my appology? It's killing me to see one of my only friends like this," he begged. "Especially because it was my fault in the first place."

"Fine," she sighed.

He smiled a soft smile and helped her out of the tree. "We should get going. I have to fix dinner," she said absentmindedly.

"I guess I'll go home then," Kiba said, as he turned away.

"You are invited, you know?" the young jounin said.

"I am? I thought it was only your team," Kiba said.

"Nope. I invited you too,"she said.

The two then returned to the falls and put their clothes back on before leaving for her house. It took a good two hours to fix dinner for everyone and they showed up just as she put dessert in the oven.

To pass the time they all played various games. Most of these games were board games and card games due to the fact that it had started raining when Kiba and Kimiko arrived at her house. She had enough games to keep all five guests and herself occupied for a few hours.

When the timer went off she left the group and took dessert out of the oven to put it in the fridge to cool. Everybody sat down at the table and she brought out dinner. Houka stayed in the livingroom, playing with the game pieces while the people ate. The conversation was casual and random for most of the meal, but in the middle of dinner Yuujin spoke up.

"Wow Kimiko. I didn't know that you could cook," he marveled.

"Well, with my life you tend to pick up a few things," she smiled.

Kiba looked at her, suddenly courious. "Where are you from anyway?" he asked, knowing that Kimiko hadn't been in the village for long.

"Yeah," Chishio and Shukumei chimed in.

"I'm from the Village Hidden in the Waterfall," Kimiko said without hesitation.

Suraisu instantly got interested in the conversation. "Really? That village is very elusive isn't it?" she asked.

"Yep. That's why the Leaf Village is in alliance with it," Kimiko said.

"That's true. So..why did you leave?" her sensei asked.

"I'd rather not talk about it. It's kind of personal," the jinchuuriki said quietly.

"Okay. Are you on your own here?" the woman asked.

"Yes," Kimiko said.

"Where are your parents?" Suraisu asked.

"I don't want to talk about that," Kimiko said, defensively.

Then Chishio broke in. "Come on Kimiko..tell us."

"No," the burnette said.

Shukumei added to the conversation. "Why not?"

Kimiko frowned deeply. "I don't have to answer that," she said.

"Yes you do," Shukumei said stubbornly.

"Leave me alone," Kimiko almost plead.

Chishio kept up the argument. "Tell us," she said.

"Guys I said no. Now stop it," Kimiko said.

The hounding still continued. Kiba had remained silent through the whole conversation thread and Yuujin was looking around the table with each voice. Now Kiba was frowning and glancing around nervously. Chishio was the one to break open the floodgates.

"Just tell us where your parents are," she begged.

Kiba could see it when Kimiko snapped and his face went completely pale.

"My parents are dead and I didn't even know them and my only living relative was killed in front of me when I was five! Happy?" she screamed.

Then she ran out into the rain, crying and headed into the forest. She ran and ran and ran, not caring where her feet would take her. Soon the sound of rushing water became more prominent. It figured she would end up at the waterfalls that seemed to hold so much peace for her.

When she came to the bank of the river that the falls continued into, she used her keke-genkai to create a bubble around herself as a type of shield. Then she sat down and brought her knees up to her face and wrapped her arms under her knees and cried.

She was sobbing so hard that her breath was starting to come short and the tears were slowly starting to wear themselves out. The water still streaked down her face, but the crying had become dry sobs and little hiccups.

She had been there for a while when she heard somebody coming. It could have been anybody, but she had an idea about who it was because of the good amount of chakra concentrated around their nose.

The person slowly walked up to her in her bubble. She didn't even bother to look at them. Her eyes hurt too much to focus on anything more than a few inches away anyway.

"What do you want Kiba?" she croaked.

"I thought I'd come here to comfort you," he said softly.

"How did you find me? The rain should have interfered with my scent," she mumbled, still having trouble speaking around the lump in her throat.

"It did...I just knew that you'd be here because you said that this is your favorite spot," he said.

"Oh," she sighed.

He put his hand on the bubble. "Hey, would you mind letting me in that bubble so I don't get wetter than I already am?" he asked half-heartedly.

Kimiko put her hands on either side of the bubble and channeled her chakra into it, expanding it and she made an opening in the side. Kiba stepped in and put his arm around the flustered girl. She silently closed the shield back up andmlooked at him with a tear stained face. The dog nin wiped the moisture away with his sleeve.

He had a longing look in his eyes and she had to ask him about his thoughts earlier today. At least it would provide a distraction from her depression. "Kiba..." she started. "I kind of read your mind earlier today when we had that picnic."

"What?" he said, thrown off guard.

"I know it was a complete and total invation of privacy and I'm sorry," she said. "But is it true that you think I'm cute when I smile?"

His face went red. "Well..uh...you see..uh...it's like this," he said, failing at finishing a sentence.

"It's okay if you don't really think that way. If it was just a misunderstanding," she whispered before being cut off. "No. I really do like you...a lot," Kiba said, his blush becoming more prominent.

Kimiko looked up at him completely shocked and secretly happy at the same time. Somebody acctually liked her? She found it hard to swallow, but she knew that he was a good person.

She made a drastic decision and leaned up to kiss him on the cheek. She quickly curled back into herself thinking that she was an idiot for doing that. He touched his face where he was just kissed and looked down at the brunette girl.

She peeked out of the corner of her eye and smiled at his shocked face. Then she timidly rested her head on his shoulder. He wrapped his arm around her confidently and leaned back to look at the clearing sky. It had stopped raining during their conversation and the clouds were starting to disperse.

Kimiko glanced the dog boy's way. "You know Kiba, this is the first time anybody's ever actually thought anything like that about me," she confessed.

He looked at her and smiled. Then he turned her so that they were facing. Was he leaning in to her? She didn't know, but she started to move toward him. Their faces were only inches apart and hearts beating loud enough for each to think the other could hear when they heard barking.

The pair turned to see Akamaru running at the bubble. Kimiko quickly dispelled the jutsu just in time for Akamaru to jump into her lap. "Akamaru? What are you doing here?" she asked the puppy.

"Kiba's in trouble," the pup yipped.

"What for?" Kimiko asked, concerned for her friend.

"He wasn't home for dinner so he has to go to bed hungry," Akamaru snickered, knowing that he wouldn't suffer the same fate.

Kiba picked his dog up by the scruff of the neck. "Acctually I had dinner at Kimiko's house," he clarified.

"You did?" Akamaru asked.

"Yeah," Kiba said. "I did."

"Well thanks for inviting me oh life-long pal of mine!" the puppy whined.

This time Kimiko broke in. "Hey Akamaru, go back to your house and ask Kiba's mom if he can spend the night at my place," she said.

"Oh, and tell her about him having dinner at my house, okay." Akamaru nodded and left.

The two ninja waited for him to come back and give an answer. They didn't attempt the kiss again now that the mood was broken. It took about ten minutes for Akamaru to get back anyway and with Kimiko's emotional shyness it would have taken that long to build up to it again.

According to Akamaru, his owner and partner could stay with the young jounin. "Yes!" both of them cheered.

Akamaru climbed up Kiba's parka and poked his head out of the top. According to Kiba that was normal and how he usually carried him if he wasn't on Kiba's head. The two then got to their feet and started on their way to Kimiko's home once again.


	4. Chapter 4

When Kiba and Kimiko got to her house the two of them were smiling and hand in hand. Before any of Kimiko's team could notice them, Kiba let go of hers.

Chishio saw the two first and called to Suriasu, Shukumei, and Yuujin. The girls ran up to them and knocked Kimiko over with a hug.

"We're soooo sorry Kimiko!" Chishio said. "Yeah! We didn't know," Shukumei added.

"Guys, guys...it's okay. I know you didn't want to make me cry," Kimiko said.

Yuujin walked up to the dog pile. "Hey guys, get off of her," he said. "You're suffucating her. And Kiba's under her too, so he's got it even worse."

The girls let go and Kimiko rolled over to get off of Kiba. He got up and offered his hand to her. She took it and he pulled her up. Then she walked inside as if nothing had happened, everyone following her. "Hey guys, how about you all spend the night here?" she suggested.

The others seemed shocked at her casual attitude. After all they had just seriously hurt her and now she was acting as if nothing had ever even happened. Suriasu found that it wouldn't be best and didn't want to intrude anyway. "We couldn't take your room," she said.

"Besides, we don't have any other clothes," Chishio added.

Kimiko thought for a while, then got an idea that could help now and in a battle. "Guys, give me directions to your houses and I can use my keke-genkai," she said.

Kiba didn't know the full extent of her keke-genkai though. "What are ropes of water going to do?" he asked, knowing about the occuurance with Sasuke.

"Nothing," Kimiko said. Now Kiba was confused to no extent and Kimiko had to laugh. "Kiba...that's not my keke-genkai," she explained. "My keke-genkai allows me to make my own jutsus without handsigns. I can even copy jutsus with only the slightest difference."

"Cool," Yuujin said.

"Yeah, too bad that I'm the last one that's able to use it," Kimiko sighed.

"What do you mean?" Shukumei asked.

"My grandparents are all gone and my mom was an only child. My dad had only one brother, my uncle, who wasn't married so I didn't have any cousins," the brunette said. "Both of my parents are dead and I don't have any brothers or sisters so I'm the only one left." They all looked at her with wide eyes and open mouths aside from her sensei who stared at her with pity.

"What?" Kimiko said warily. "Just give me the directions to your houses!" she snapped making her team jump. They paused a second before giving Kimiko the directions. She told them that they would all be teleported to their houses at the same time as long as they concentrated on them and stayed still.

That was the advantage to this jutsu. While most shinobi could teleport normally, she could now teleport others in the area. If she worked on it she just might be able to teleport moving targets.

She took Kiba's hand next to her and told him to concentrate on his house. He closed his eyes in concentration and then the jinchuuriki smirked. "Teleportaiton Jutsu!" she said, watching her team mates disappear before she and Kiba did so in a puff of smoke.

She and Kiba appeared in front of what she assumed to be his house and Kimiko looked at him. His eyes were sitll closed. "Kiba...you can open your eyes now," she smirked. He did so and looked around. "Yup, this is my house alright," he said.

"Well of course it is! My jutsus don't usually fail as a general rule," Kimiko bragged.

He walked up to the door and she followed. As the two approached the door, she suddenly heard barking from within. Kiba walked in the door only to be pumbled by a giant dog. Kimiko stopped in her tracks.

The dog looked at her for a second, sniffing her out, and then ran up and jumped on her knocking her to the ground. She squeaked and then giggled pushing the dog off of her. Kiba called him over and scolded him before bringing him back around the house. When he came back he led her inside. She followed him through the door and met up with a woman.

"Kiba, I thought you were spending the night at a friend's house," she said.

"I am. I just have to get my stuff first," he explained. "That and a change of clothes seeing as I'm soaking wet."

He was just about to walk off when Kimiko spoke. "I'm sorry again for running off and you having to find me in the rain," she said. She really didn't expect him to follow her and risk getting sick or drenching his clothes. She never had anyone that cared about her enough to do so. "No big deal," he shrugged. "Mom, this is Kimiko. She's a new friend of mine and I'm going to her place tonight," Kiba continued, pulling the girl out from behind him so that his mother could see.

"Kiba I thought I told you not to spend the night at a girl's house," she scolded immediately.

"But-" he started. But he was cut off. "No buts. Wait...does she have a brother?" the wild woman asked.

Kimiko froze. Kiba noticed and grabbed her wrist protectively. "Mom, don't bring that subject up around her. It's the reason I had to run after her in the rain in the first place," he said. "Sorry," she apologized. "So..if she's alone then you're not spending the night," she said.

Kimiko relaxed again and Kiba loosened his grip until he finally let go of her wrist. "It's okay, my team is going to be there including my sensei and he and Yuujin are sleeping in the livingroom anyway," she explained.

"Hey!" Kiba jumped at her.

"Relax Kiba. You can always call the couch before Yuujin does," she said. "Fine," he grumbled.

Then he was dismissed to go to his room and get his things. While Kimiko waited, Kiba's mom started up a conversation with her. She really liked the woman and started thinking of her like the mom that she never had. She was glad and told Kimiko that she could talk to her any time about anything.

She smiled and got up as Kiba came to her with his things. She said goodbye to Kiba's mom and walked out the door with Kiba right behind her.

"Alright, do that teleportation jutsu of yours so we can get back to your house," he said.

"Why don't we just walk home and say that I was a little low on chakra?" she suggested, not wanting to lose an opportunity of being alone.

"Well, you should be. You know, considering all the stuff that you've done," he said.

"Acctually, no...I'm not," she said. "Why?" Kiba asked 'Shit. I shouldn't have said that. Can I tell him about Shingai?' Kimiko thought to herself. 'Best not to." Well, uh, I've developed a way to use less chakra than normal...but only I can use it due to my stamina," she lied. He seemed to buy it, though he argued for his sake on the stamina part a little bit.

The two walked through the forest with Kiba close behind Kimiko. Akamaru was on his head now and it looked so cute. He caught up with Kimiko and put his arm around her waist and pulled her in to him, making her blush. Then she looked at the moon, trying to ignore it.

Her face was emotionless-aside from the color in her cheeks, but her eyes told a different story. She continued to stare at the moon, leaning on Kiba and thinking of her old friend. Thr boy looked at her, seeing the moon reflecting in her eyes, even though she was oblivious to it.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Watching the moon," Kimiko explained. "When I was alone, it was my best friend, and still is. It's so beautiful and no matter what, it looks innocent and pure. It's just one of those things that helps you keep faith."

"Kind of like you?" he asked.

Kimiko let out a breath and smiled. "Kiss up," she said, suspecting a lie. Then she smacked his shoulder and he grabbed it. She laughed at him trying to look tough infront of her.

Then she noticed her cherry tree and walked over to it. Kiba didn't notice her walk up. From the branches she giggled as his confused state. She shouted down to him from her perch. "Hey Kiba! Come on up! There's a great veiw of the moon from here!"

He looked up and smiled. Then he walked up with her and sat down. After a few minutes of sitting in scilence Kiba spoke. "You know, I wasn't being a kiss up earlier," he said.

"Yeah...but it was kind of cheesy," Kimiko said half sarcastically.

They both laughed. Kiba hit his head off of the tree and Akamaru fell into his lap. That just made Kimiko laugh harder causing her to slip and fall. She screamed involuntarily and started concentrating chakra to her feet, but you felt something on her wrist before she got the chance. It was Kiba's hand. He looked scared, which Kimiko found hard to believe with his ego.

He pulled her up and hugged her. She stiffened up at the contact. She was entirely unused to it. Even Naruto had never hugged her before and it was rare to get one from her uncle even though he openly stated that he cared for her. It was hard to return the gesture.

"Thanks for that," she whispered.

"No problem," Kiba replied.

She pulled away, still holding him, and looked at his face. His expression was soft and there was a look in his eyes that didn't recall seeing in her thirteen years. It looked familiar, but she just couldn't figure it out.

He put his hands on her shoulders and started imperceptibally leaning towards her. She wasn't exactly sure what was happening, but she thought that she liked it. His lips touched hers and then he pulled away, blushing.

"Sorry," he whispered.

Kimiko smiled. "Don't be," she said.

Then she wrapped her arms around Kiba's neck and pulled him in to her. Their lips crashed together. His arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her closer, deepening the kiss. He licked at her bottom lip, asking for entrance. Kimiko slowly and timidly parted her lips as he let his tounge enter her mouth. As their tounges battled, his hands found their way to the hem of the girl's shirt.

Just before things went any further, a voice echoed through the forest. "Kiba! Kimiko! Where are you?" it called.

The pair jerked apart from each other and fell out of the tree. Kimiko hit the ground with a thud and looked up to see Yuujin. She started to blush imperceptibly.

"Y-Yuujin...What are you doing here?" she stuttered.

"I could ask you the same thing," he said suspiciously.

Kimiko and Kiba got up while Akamaru stood beside them. Kimiko's mind was racing. She had to think of something before he figured it out. "We were walking home because I was low on chakra. I didn't want to risk teleporting again," she said.

"Sure...Then why did we all get to your house before you?" he asked. "It's true!" she wailed.

"Save your breath Kimiko. I know what was going on," he said slyly.

Kimiko was at a loss for words. Thankfully Kiba wasn't. Or maybe not so thankfully. "Fine then, what do you think we were doing?" he challenged.

"You were making out," Yuujin said matter-of-factly.

The others' faces went red. So, he knew. There was only one thing left to do. At least it was the only thing Kimiko could do that would work with the more compassionate of her team. She broke down. She fell to her knees and started begging.

"Please Yuujin, don't tell the girls! They'll never leave me alone! And I'm not a people person!" she said, hugging his legs. He and Kiba were looking at her, surprised at how desperate she was.

"Relax Kimiko. I won't tell them. I know how they can be," Yuujin sympathsized.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" she said.

Her plan had worked. Sometimes grovelling worked best on a kind soul, rather than threats or reason. She had learned that as she travelled. Kiba pulled her up and smiled at her.

Everyone started walking back to Kimiko's house and after a while the girl got bored. She smirked at the two boys. "Hey guys, wanna race?" she asked.

"Sure," Kiba said.

"Yeah, why not?" Yuujin agreed.

She threw her head back and howled. Then she was off. It didn't take long for Kiba to overcome her and Yuujin was close on her tail. She growled to herself, not wanting to be outdone.

She spotted a felled tree resting between a fork in another. She streaked up it and took to the trees.

As vines started to whiz past her she took notice of the gaps growing larger in the trees. She looked down to the ground and saw that she had almost caught up to Kiba, but every time she came close to passing him he would spring forward again in a burst of energy. Yuujin was almost dead even with her on the forest floor. A large vine hung in the middle of a very large gap that she could barely clear in a normal jump.

This is where travelling was going to help her win this race. She took a flying leap and caught the vine in mid-jump. It became taught and she swung ahead. When she grabbed the next vine she was dead even with Kiba. She let her current vine go to its full lentgh and she flipped higher into the air and grabbed a shorter one.

The edge of the forest was in her field of vision now. She left her last vine and pushed off on one of the last branches there. She was propelled forward and she tucked herself into a roll when she hit the ground. Kiba slid into view no more than a second later and Yuujin showed up five feet behind him. The girl jumped into the air and pumped her fist.

"Ha! I win!" she exclaimed.

"That's not fair. You cheated!" Kiba said. Akamaru barked in good-natured agreement.

"Hey, we never said there were ground only rules. In fact, there were no rules at all," she laughed.

Yuujin put his hand on Kiba's shoulder and laughed with her. The other boy scowled, but was soon laughing with the others. Now out of breath from their sprint and out of the woods, the trio headed for Kimiko's house at a leisurely pace.

When they got there everyone looked up from what they were doing to see the four-including Akamaru-walk through the door. Suraisu stood up and smiled at them. "What took you so long?" she asked.

Yuujin filled in for them because Kimiko really didn't want to explain again. Besides, she had a deal with him.

"Long story short, Kimiko was low on chakra so they desided to walk home. Then I came looking for them, found them in the woods, and then we had a race," he said nonchallantly. Everyone that wasn't there to see the little show rose an eyebrow.

"Okaaaaay," Chishio said.

"You had to be there," Kiba said.

"She's a real monkey," Yuujin chuckled.

The girls laughed and insisted on the story. So, they all got comfortable and started talking. Whenever something came up that reminded Yuujin of finding Kiba and Kimiko he would crack up. Everyone would look at him and then go back to what they were talking about. Yuujin would always shut up when he spotted the death glares Kimiko was sending him.

After a while the other's started to get tired and suggested that everyone go to bed.

"You know guys, there's only one couch down here," Kimiko said suggestively.

The boys looked at each other then back at her. Kiba ran for it while Yuujin just stood there and yelled, "Called it!"

"No fair! I was here first!" Kiba protested.

"Yuujin called it, and besides dog boy if Akamaru sleeps on the floor, then so can you," Suraisu said.

"Hey!" Kiba said.

The girls laughed and Kiba layed down on the floor, using his bag as a pillow and grumbling the whole time. Akamaru walked over to him then curled up on his chest.

Kimiko and the girls went upstairs after saying goodnight to the boys and she showed Suraisu to the guest room. After making sure she was well enough accomidated and knew where everything was she took the other girls to her room. Chishio and Shukumei followed her into your room and then the girl talk started.

"Sooo, Kimiko tell us all the dirty details," Chishio said, leaning toward the brunette.

"What do you mean?" Kimiko said, faking confusion.

Shukumei smiled. "Don't play innocent with us. We saw you staring at Kiba the whole time," she said.

Kimiko blushed and looked away. "Can we please change the subject?" she asked desperately, hoping that after the last problem of the night they would give in.

"Fine," Shukumei said. "But that doesn't mean that we'll leave you alone tomorrow," Chishio added.

Kimiko crawled over to her window to stare out into space and get some of the fresh air wafting in. The girls crawled over with her to look outside. Not long after, Gaara walked by on the street. Chishio stared at him as he walked by.

"Wow he's cute," she said absentmindedly. He stopped by the door and looked at the house. Chishio looked at him sadly. "It looks like he's interested in you," she sighed.

"What? No, he's only my friend," Kimiko said.

She threw her window all the way open and yelled down to him. "Hey Gaara! Wanna stop over tomorrow?" she asked.

He looked up at her and the girls. "Oh, Kimiko. I thought you were asleep already," he said blankly. "Sure, why not? I'll let Temari know," he said.

Then people from around the village started shouting. "Hey! There's people trying to sleep here!" a man shouted. "Keep it down!" a woman added. "We'll call in the ninja if we have to!" another woman yelled.

That started to annoy Kimiko. She and Gaara were barely yelling at all. "Hey, shut up! I _am_ a ninja and I'm sure that Gaara of the Sand won't hesitate to help me!" she yelled back at them. The shouting stopped. Well, at least they were quiet now. Of course they might just be putting that last threat into action. Oh well. If they did she'd deal with that when the time came.

"I'll see you tomorrow! Okay Gaara?" she smiled.

"Okay," he said.

Kimiko caught a strange expression on his face. It was one of confusion. As he turned to leave, she read his thoughts. 'What was_ that_? My stomach felt kind of funny and my chest got really light for a second...'

Through his thoughts Kimiko was able to catch glimpses of red atop two brown dots and a shit-load of pink. It was fuzzy-Kimiko wasn't good with seeing pictures in a person's head-but she was able to figure out what it was easily enough.

He had left without a word and a trickle of sand was left in his place. She shut the window and smiled to herself. 'Awww cute! Gaara likes Chishio! And she likes him!' she squealed in her head. 'He doesn't even know!'

"Chishio, I'll help you with him if you want," the brunette offered.

"That would be great!" she jumped at the chance.

"Just a warning though, he has no understanding of any other emotion than hate and contempt. He's only just learning the beginnings of friendship," Kimiko warned. "He still doesn't feel comfortable letting his guard down at all around people."

"It doesn't matter. I'll have him one way or another," Chishio said with a flip of her crimson hair.

The three girls smiled as Kimiko got up to turn off the lights and Houka wandered into the room. Then she and the kit layed down in her bed while the girls pulled out their sleeping bags that they had thought to pack.

Kimiko lay awake for at least a half hour in the dark. The other two had drifted off not too long ago and now she was on the verge of passing out herself. The last thing that she saw before you drifted off was Kiba's face in her mind's eye, staring down at her.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: All characters belong to Kishimoto-san. I only own Kimiko and her team.

* * *

><p>Kimiko slowly blinked her eyes open. When her vision had cleared, Chishio and Shukumei were smiling right in her face. She sreamed and shot up in her bed, causing Houka to fall off and the girls jump back and bump their heads.<p>

"What the hell you guys?" she yelled.

Suraisu burst through the door, followed by Kiba and Akamaru, and Yuujin. "What happened?" Yuujin asked frantically.

"These guys were in my face when I woke up. You'd scream too!" Kimiko said, pointing at the girls on the floor.

Yuujin and Kiba looked at each other then back to the brunette. "I don't think so," they said in unison.

Kimiko huffed, glaring at everyone and Suraisu rolled her eyes. "All right, all right. Since no one's dying and it will be quite impossible to get back to sleep, how about we eat. Who's hungry?" she said.

"Me!" the boys shouted. The other girls nodded.

Kimiko was still upset, so she just continued glaring, though she was hungry. She flung the covers off the lower half of her body and swung her legs off the bed.

Suraisu stepped forward to the center of the group. "First, everyone's getting dressed," she said. Kimiko rolled her eyes. Well duh. That was kind of obvious.

Everyone turned to leave, but the brunette stopped them. "Oh and guys," she said. "I call dibs on the big bathroom for my shower, so anyone that wants a shower has to take the other one."

Everyone agreed and then left to change out of their pajamas. Chishio and Shukumei turned to their stuff and started to dress.

"Now, why the hell were you guys in my face?" Kimiko asked irritatedly.

Shukumei pulled her shirt over her head. "Well, last night, just before you fell asleep, Kiba came in."

"He didn't know it, but we were watching," Chishio said as she buttoned her pants.

"Yeah..." the other agreed.

"And he came over to your bed. Then he looked back at us to make sure we were sleeping," Chisio said.

"Get to the point," Kimiko said.

Shukumei was putting her shoes on as she squealed at the brunette. "And he kissed you! Not on the lips or any thing, but he still kissed you on the cheek!"

Kimiko froze in her place. Houka could feel her rage and quickly ducked under the bed. First she was mad at her two comrades, but now she was mad at Kiba. Not so much for doing it, but for not anticipating that the girls were watching. He's a frickin' ninja for crying out loud!

"Oh is he going to get an earful from me!" she yelled. The young jonin stormed around her room, grabbing various heavy and sharp objects. The girls watched her curiously.

"What are you doing?" Shukumei asked.

"When I'm mad I throw things, and I'm beyond pissed!" Kimiko snapped.

Chishio bravely stepped forward. "How about you put the stuff down-" she started. "And go take that shower. Okay?" Shukumei timidly added. "It'll probably make you feel better."

Kimiko took a breath with her eyes closed. "Fine," she said. She could always hurt Kiba later. She dropped everything on her bed and headed toward the door. Houka peeked out from his hiding place. The brunette gave the girls one last warning look before leaving and then shut the door with a resounding thud.

She headed to the next room down the hall and got her things around. Then she turned on the shower. The heated water running down her back actually did calm her. She had to work to stay mad enough at Kiba to still want to punish him. After a few minutes of standing in the water and cleaning herself off, she got out and wrapped herself in a small towel that just barely covered the main parts of her body. Then she turned around to turn off the water.

Just as she turned back, the door opened. There stood Kiba, in complete and utter shock. Kimiko gasped and grabbed hold of her towel. Kiba's eyes widened and his hand flew to his face. Of course instead of covering his eyes, he covered his mouth and nose.

"Sorry, wrong bathroom!" he said frantically.

"Yeah. Down the hall, first door on your left," she said shakily.

He nodded, then nearly slammed the door. Kimiko could hear hurried footsteps down the hall and then another door slammed shut.

She continued with her normal daily routine, slightly shaking as she brushed her teeth and combed her hair. When she was done with that she put her bathrobe on and peeked out of the bathroom. The coast was clear. She bolted to her room and into the closet.

After she was dressed, Kimiko headed for the stairs. In the hall though, she met up with Kiba. His eye twiched and her face flashed twenty shades of red. The horrific moment came back fresh and no less embarrassing. And now she was standing right in front of the boy who had seen her nearly naked. In this kind of situation there was only one thing to do. Kimiko ran down the stairs as fast as possible and into the kitchen.

She found Suraisu at the stove, cooking breakfast. "Suraisu sensei, you don't have to make breakfast," Kimiko said.

"No, I owe you," Suraisu said. "It's the least I can do for you letting us stay here."

Kimiko smiled and went to work, helping her sensei.

All through breakfast, Kiba kept his eyes off of the young jonin and she the same with the wild boy. The other girls picked up on it and gigggled, assuming it had something to do with the kiss. They stopped however, when Kimiko looked up at them. Even though talking went on all through breakfast, for Kimiko it was just embarrassed silence.

Just as everyone was leaving, Suraisu stopped at the door. "Kimiko, we have training tomorrow morning, six o'clock," she said.

"Do I have to?" the brunette girl asked.

"Yes," replied her sensei bluntly.

"Why? Can't I just train myself?" Kimiko asked.

"No. You're only a genin, after all," Suraisu said.

"No I'm not. I'm a jonin," Kimiko said as if it were obvious.

"No. You can't be," Suraisu said, astonished.

"Weren't you at the training grounds the other day?" Kiba asked.

"No. Were we supposed to be there?" Shukumei asked.

"Yeah," Kiba said. "The Hokage called most of the ninja of the village to witness."

"He had me fight a ninja of each rank to find mine," Kimiko said. "I beat out Kakashi, though if we were really fighting he probably would have won," she mused.

"She is a jonin; I was there," Kiba confirmed. "Why weren't you?"

There was a pause before Suraisu finally answered. "We were never acctually summoned," she said.

"What? Why not?" Kimiko asked.

"We had just arrived from the Mist Village," Suraisu explained. "We only became official Leaf ninja that day."

"All of us are from different villages," Yuujin said. "Each of us got permission from our respective villages to form a team. It was assumed that it would strengthen the bonds between the villages in a way similar to the Chunin Exams, but stronger."

"So, what villages are you all from then?" Kimiko asked.

"Well, Shukumei was origially a Mist ninja, Yuujin was a grass ninja, Chishio was from a small, non-ninja village that was called the Hell Village-"

"We're surrounded by volcanoes. Not the best choice for a village location if you ask me," Chishio interupted.

Suraisu gave her a stern look, shutting her up. Then she went back to her explination. "And I'm from the Village Hidden Among the Stones."

"If Chishio is from a non-ninja village, then how did she-"

"I was trained by a nomadic man, outcast from his own village," Chishio said, cutting Kimiko off. The latter gave her a flat look, raising a eyebrow. Chishio smiled nervously.

"Well, we do have to get going. So, I bid you farewell. Come on everyone," Suraisu said, geturing to the genin of the group.

Everyone walked outside; the two brunettes to see the others off. "Do I still have to come for training?" Kimiko asked.

Suraisu turned around to face her. "Of course you do. Even a jonin needs to train. But, seeing as you have the rank, your schedule will be more flexible. You'll be on tougher missions and thus need more recuperation time," she said.

"Yes!" Kimiko hissed.

Surasi smiled slightly and shook her head at the girl's attitude. Then the four of them walked off.

When Kimiko turned around Kiba was gone. How did he move so quietly? She walked inside to find him clearing the table. When he was done with the table and had put everything away he turned to her. She looked at him clearly showing her annoyance.

"Kiba," she said flatly.

"Yes?" he asked innocently.

"Why did you do that last night?" she asked.

"What do you mean?" he replied.

"Stop being coy! You know I'm talking about the kiss!" she said.

"Oh, that," he said, unaffected. "I just wanted to kiss you good night. New relationship and all. I didn't think my lips were that bad," he said, smirking as he turned away.

"That would have been fine if it weren't for the fact that the girls were in my room," she said, ignoring the side comment.

"So? It's not like they saw me or anything," he said.

"How do you think I found out?" she asked sarcastically.

"I thought you saw me," Kiba said.

"That was a retorical question. You're not supposed to answer those," she said.

"Oh?" he smirked.

"Shut up. The point is they were spying on you the whole time. And if Chisio is anything like I make her out to be, she's going to tell everyone," Kimiko said, now more annoyed.

"Ah, just ignore her," Kiba said as he waved his hand.

"No! I don't want people to know that I like you!" she said.

"Is it that bad? Are you really that embarrassed to be seen with me?" he asked, looking hurt.

"No, I'm just..It's complicated okay? You can understand that, right?" she asked.

Kiba looked away. Kimiko smirked slightly at him.

"Oh come here you," she said, grabbing at his coat collar. He stepped away. "Look, I'm afraid of attention okay?" she said.

"You didn't act like it when you were fighting the other day," Kiba retorted.

"I told you about my past! Fighting comes naturally to me, not people!" she said.

"Okay, okay. I get you," he said. "Doesn't mean that I'm feeling any less rejected, but I get you."

Kimiko smirked and rolled her eyes. As Kiba turned away to do something else she grabbed his arm and pulled him around. Caught off guard he didn't have a chance of pulling away. She caught his lips in a sweet, but short kiss.

"Does that make you feel any better?" she asked sarcastically.

"Another one wouldn't hurt," he said smiling.

"Don't push your luck," Kimiko smirked at him.

"At least you can get over stuff like that pretty quickly," he said.

"Well, I have a high self esteem," she smiled.

Then she caught movement outside of her window in her periphial vision. She looked up over Kiba's shoulder at the figure but didn't catch their face in time. She did, however manage to catch a glimpse of raven hair. She narrowed her eyes.

"And a bad temper," she added angrily.

With that she turned and walked out the door, leaving a very confused Kiba in the dust. She looked around for any trace of the person that she had just seen.

"Where are you Uchiha?" she asked the empty air.

She heard a chuckle from behind her. "I thought you wouldn't be so pathetic that you couldn't even find me..."

Kimiko spun around to see the one and only Sasuke Uchiha sitting on her roof. He was tossing a pebble in his hand. He just did anything to look cool didn't he?

"And I thought you were a jonin," he said.

"Out of the hospital so soon?" Kimiko smirked.

He glared down at her, the smirk disappearing from his face. "Why do you know so much about this?" he asked, revealing his curse mark.

"What's it to you?" she said, looking away.

"Just tell me what I need to know," he demanded.

The girl crossed her arms and stared at him. Neither moved for a few minutes. Kimiko could stay like that all day knowing that calmer she appeared the more Sasuke would get annoyed. And then he snapped.

"Tell me now!" he yelled.

Kiba, finally out of his stupor, started walking toward the door. She turned her gaze to him and he stopped. Then she looked back to Sasuke.

"No," she said flatly.

"Just tell me!" he yelled letting loose with the pheonix flower jutsu. She dodged it effortlessly.

"Fine! If you must know, I know what it's like," she said as she made two shadow clones.

One clone ran to the left and Kimiko ran to the right with the other. Clone one ran up the left side of the house and clone two took the other. Kimiko continued around the back of the house and made another clone. It went up the back othe house in her place. When she saw smoke floating from the roof she made more clones. As the clones were made and destroyed she knew Sasuke was steadily making his way to her spot.

Kiba had run to the back window and had been watching the girl make her clones. Now she jumped through the window, nearly knocking Kiba over in the process and continued running.

"Sorry," she said as she ran past him and out of the room. When she made it to her own room, she stopped. Kiba got up and followed her.

"Wha-" he started.

"Shh!" Kimiko hushed him and listened to the footsteps on the roof. Sasuke was working his way past the skylight now. Kimiko ran to the next room and locked the door, once again leaving Kiba very confused.

She then looked up through the skylight in the mostly dark room, waiting for Sasuke to back up. When his shadow became visible, she jumped up and grabbed him from behind. His shocked and angry face looked at her as she pulled him down. When they landed Kimiko quickly sat on his chest, holding him down.

She wasn't even mad anymore. That's what this room did to her. It made her look deep into her own soul and become highly spiritual. It also made her calm. She hoped that it would do the same to Sasuke before the curse mark flared.

"Why do you fight with so much anger?" she asked.

He glared at her. "What is with you? Talk normally!" he yelled. Then he flipped her over and sat on her waist, pinning up her arms with one hand. He grabbed a kunai with the free one and held it to her neck.

"Is your anger so great, that you would kill an innocent person just for the sake of information based on curiosity?" she asked, not moving.

He pressed the kunai closer to her neck. "Answer my question. Why do you know so much about this mark?" he said ignoring what she was asking.

Kimiko stayed quiet, staring into space. Even if this room had failed its purpose she was in no danger. Not even with death staring her in the face.

Sasuke raised the kunai and brought it down to slit the girl's throat. But, before he got the chance to, sand shot infront of her, blocking the kunai. Kimiko smiled to herself, knowing Gaara was on the roof as he had been since she pulled Sasuke inside. He jumped down into the room.

"Let go of her Uchiha, before you push me. I don't have the slightest problem with killing you before our match," he said coldly.

Sasuke looked from Kimiko and back to Gaara, then huffed. He took the kunai and put it in his pouch. Then he jumped out the skylight and left.

Kimiko gently hugged Gaara and then walked back toward the door that Kiba was behind. "Thank you, Gaara," she said.

"No problem," he replied quietly.

She turned the lock and pulled the door open, only to have Kiba fall into the room and ontop of her. Gaara stared down at the two with a nonexistent eyebrow raised. Kiba stared up at him almost scared.

"Heheheh...Gaara, I'd like you to meet-" Kimiko said as she stood up, pulling Kiba up with her. She stood behind him with her hands on his shoulders. "-my boyfriend," she finished.

"Boyfriend?" the Sand ninja asked as Kiba waved nervously. Kimiko nodded. "You don't seem the type to get a boyfriend," Gaara said. "Much less one as pathetic as this..."

"I'll just ignore that comment," she said, turning around.

She knew Kiba would have made a comment if he weren't so terrified.

As she walked out of her room and into the hallway the boys followed, Kiba sticking close. Then they continued down the stairs and into the main portion of the house.

"Gaara, did you have breakfast yet?" Kimiko asked with an implication in her voice.

"Yes," he stated flatly.

"Good! 'Cause I'm not making any!" she smiled at him.

Kiba chuckled and subtlely picked up Akamaru. Kimiko picked up Houka and put him on her shoulder, while Kiba put Akamaru on his head. Gaara was staring at them. Kiba stared back, not making eye contact like his girlfriend was.

"What?" The two asked in unison.

"Nothing. I'm just the only one without a furry acessory," Gaara said.

Kimiko blinked, unused to Gaara making an attempt at humor. Then she laughed and Kiba hesitently joined in. Kimiko walked out the door, the boys walking on either side of her as they made their way through the village

"So...what are we going to do?" Kimiko asked.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: All characters belong to Kishimoto-san. I only own Kimiko and her team.

* * *

><p>The small group walked around the village not really caring about where their feet took them. Thanks to Kimiko's new furry friend, she found herself actually entering stores that she had only barely glanced at before. And of course she absolutely had to take advantage of the fact that there were two boys with her, one of them dating her.<p>

After about an hour of her shopping and handing off bags to the others, the boys were starting to complain about carrying her things. Well, Kiba was more vocal about it. Gaara was more of the suffer in silence type.

"Stop complaining and get over it," Kimiko scolded. "Here, let me take them." She took the bags and with a quick "I'll be right back!" she teleported to her house and put the bags in her room. After checking that everything was still in order she teleported back to where she left the boys. "Jeeze, you guys sure are wimps for a killer and a future chunin!" she smiled at them.

"Hey!" Kiba yelled.

He lunged at the girl. She simply stepped to the side, completely avoiding Kiba's attack and letting him fall smack on his face right in the road. Gaara just shook his head and rolled his eyes. Kimiko snickered, and then burst out laughing. She fell over to the ground and started rolling around, short of breath.

Kiba stood up and moved to put his foot on her stomach, when sand shot out, shielding her body. Kiba glanced up at Gaara, more scared than confused. The redhead simply shrugged.

'Gaara?' the jonin questioned in her friend's head.

'Don't look at me, I don't know. The sand seems to be protecting you free of my will as it does for me.' he thought.

'Interesting...I wonder why that is?' she thought back.

Once again Gaara shrugged. Kiba lifted his foot and the sand retracted, flowing back to Gaara's gourd. Kimiko got up, letting Houka sit on her shoulder. It was rather weird that Gaara's sand would do that. It was already weird enough that it protected him without his consent. Now why would it protect her?

As Akamaru made his way up to Kiba's head Kimiko forcably linked her arms through the boys' and decided that she would experiment with her new revelation later. For now she would just have to torture the other two. She could see the evil smile forming in her head as she switched from walking to a hop skip. The boys just tried to keep up without tripping over their own feet. Going through the village they were getting a lot of weird looks from shopkeepers and passers by.

"You know, it would be much easier if you just did this with me..." she said, smiling childlike at them. They turned their heads to her, each raising a proverbial eyebrow.

"There's no way I'm doing _that_..." Gaara sneered. Then he lifted his foot to kick Kimiko's ass, falling back in step without a second thought. The girl straightened her spine, stopping her hop skip and blushed.

"What?" Kiba asked.

"Nothing!" she said quickly in defense. She glanced toward Gaara using her peripheral vision and glared. 'I _will_ get you for that!' she thought visiously.

'We'll see...' he thought, then smirked at the ground.

Kimiko just sighed and rolled her eyes. If she wanted to get back at him, she would have to do it cleverly. There was no way that she would be fast enough or strong enough to get through the sand.

The trio continued to walk around the village, letting their legs choose where to go. Eventually, they came to Ichiraku's. "I think my stomach led me here..." Kimiko guessed. Just then her stomach growled rather loudly, causing her to unlink her arms from the boys' and wrap them around her midsection. Not much use trying to silence her stomach after the damage was done.

"You think you're hungry?" Kiba asked sarcastically.

"Oh shut up," she snapped, bent over, unsuccessfully trying to stifle another growl.

She turned to walk into Ichiraku's only to trip over one of the long ribbons she had used to tie her hair up. She stumbled through the curtain, arms flailing to catch the first thing they could to stop her from falling. Somewhere in the middle of all this, the jonin managed to turn completely around and fall backwards. Gaara and Kiba tried to catch her, but missed entirely. Thankfully, it wasn't like she was falling off a cliff or something.

Before she had the chance to come up with any other sarcastic commets, she hit something soft and then felt secured in place. She heard a big clatter of dishes and felt something wet on her face a second later. When Kimiko opened her eyes again, she saw what it was that had happened. Naruto was staring down at her, and her head was in his lap with his arms around her waist for support. Houka fell off of her shoulder on impact and right into Naruto's bowl of ramen which, of course, splattered all over the two ninja's faces. Which explained the clatter and the wetness.

"_Sooo_...Whatcha doin'?" Naruto asked with a noodle hanging from his head, down to his nose and right next to the corner of his mouth.

"Oh nothing. Just thought I'd drop in," Kimiko smiled.

Gaara and Kiba stepped in at that moment. They all looked at each other, then Kiba snickered. All of a sudden, everyone-with the exception of Gaara-burst out laughing. Even Ayame and Teuchi joined in. Gaara sat down, facing the outside of the bar.

Then Chishio, who was walking by outside, poked her head inside and looked at everyone. "What the hell happened in here?! And Kimiko! I thought you were dating Kiba!" she yelled.

Kimiko froze and snapped her eyes open. Everyone else stopped laughing with her. "I didn't know you and Kiba were dating, Kimiko. I thought you were still holding a grudge for his attitude problem that I told you about during our fight," Naruto asked.

"Attitude problem?!" Kiba snapped.

"Yes Naruto, I am dating him. And it's not like he _really_ insulted you. He just gave you more incentive to win," Kimiko said matter-of-factly, brushing Kiba's comment off.

Gaara was facing the ground with his eyes closed, calm and collected as usual. "She's not flirting with Naruto. I know her too well...Besides, she just tripped over one of her ribbons. Naruto caught her," he said, not looking up.

Chishio looked up at Gaara and blushed dreamily at him. "Hi Gaara..." she cooed.

He glanced up and stared, unblinking at her. She blushed and looked away. It amazed Kimiko how her team mate couldn't seem to sense the killing intent that always fell from the Sand shinobi. She was completely blinded by love.

Kimiko got up from Naruto's grip and cleaned herself off. Houka shook the ramen off of himself and Naruto sucked in the noodle dangling next to his lips, as the fox jumped back onto his friend's shoulder. She walked up to the counter that Ayame was currently cleaning off.

"Two misos and a pork ramen to go please," Kimiko whispered to her.

She nodded and sent her dad the order. When they were done she gave Kiba the pork ramen and Naruto got the one of the miso ramens. The jonin kept the other for herself. Chishio had already sat down next to Gaara and wasn't even paying any attention to the rest of the group whatsoever. Yes, she was difinitely love sick. Gaara shifted to get up and leave when he saw other three leaving. Kimiko held her hand up, signaling him to stop.

'I told you that I would get back at you,' she smirked at him. 'Oh, and I know that you like the feeling you get around her...'

Gaara's face went blank with shock, not even having realized himself if he liked the strange new feeling or not, and turned around to face the bar. Who knew how long it would be before he actually physically acknowledged Chishio's presence?

In the meanwhile Kiba, Naruto, and Kimiko left Ichiraku's and headed to the training grounds. "What was with us leaving those two there?" Naruto asked.

Kimiko shrugged at him. Like she was going to tell him about Chishio's crush and her own revenge on Gaara. Besides, even if Naruto knew about her unusaul comraderie with the Sand ninja, she wasn't going to let Kiba know. That would be awkward.

"It's just a thing with them," she said simply.

Behind them, Kiba attempted to say something, but he was cut off by Kimiko, still talking to Naruto. "Hey, don't you have to train for the upcoming fights in the Chunin Exam Arena?" she asked, remembering what Gaara had said about fighting Sasuke.

Naruto stopped in his tracks. "Oh, crap! I'm supposed to meet Pervy Sage for my training!" he annouced, running off and waving at the two others. "See you guys later!"

They stared at him as he ran. Had they heard him right? Just to be sure, they repeated his words. "Pervy Sage?" they simultaneously said

Kiba shook his head. Kimiko rolled her eyes and smiled. "That boy is seriously weird. I really wonder how his personality turned out like that with his being alienated his whole life," she said.

"How did you know that?" Kiba asked. "You've barely been in this village for a few months."

"Naruto's my friend. He tells me things," she said.

"Oh really? You guys are that close?" Kiba said. "Should I be jealous?"

"I don't think so," she smirked. "Besides we only exchanged stories. The biggest thing he told me is probably common knowledge in the village anyway."

"What's that?" Kiba asked.

"Only the thing about the-" '_Shut up!_' Kimiko couldn't talk, being at a loss for words. This had never happened to her before. '_The story of the nine tails can't be known! That is the law in the Hidden Leaf!_' the voice yelled at her again.

She shook herself and turned to Kiba. "Did you hear that?" she asked him.

"Hear what? I was listening to what you were saying about what Naruto told when you stopped," the dog ninja, confused.

"But, there was a voice..." Kimiko squeaked. "A woman. I know I'm not imagining things..."

"Kimiko? Are you okay?" Kiba asked, sounding concerned. She shook her head, trying to clear it out.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine..." she said. "I've gotta go!" And with that she ran off, leaving Kiba in the dust.

'_Yes...Run from all the comfort you know._ That's _a good idea, considering it__ won't last much longer..._' The voice laughingly sneered in Kimiko's head, stopping her cold in her tracks.

"Kimiko! What's up with you?" Kiba asked running up to her side.

"What do you mean?" she asked the voice while completly ignoring Kiba's question.

'_The life you once knew has blossomed into this. And what you now have will not last long...As all things do, peace and chaos go through cycles. Your cycle of peace will soon be over and a__ life filled with terror, betrayal, and hatred will bring about your chaos..._' her voice came again, sending chills down the jinchuuriki's spine.

"-leaving your new team mate alone with a sadistic freak like that! I mean, how can you even _be_ friends with the guy?! You guys are complete opposites! And now with the stopping whatever you're doing in the middle of it, staring out into space, and the weird questions! Kimiko? Are you even listening to me?!" Kiba's voice finally registered in her head. Then she understood what he actually said. She glared at him.

"Did you just call Gaara a sadistic freak?" she snapped at him.

"_Yeah_...I mean, do you even know what this guy does? I personally saw him kill three guys without a second thought!" he said.

Kimiko's gaze got even colder. "Yes I do know what he does! Had a really complicated past, and for your information we have a lot more in common than you think!" she yelled.

She ran off, not even caring that Kiba was following her in close persuit. Akamaru jumped from his head and grabbed the girl's pantleg, causing her to trip.

'_Get the fox to hold off the pup,_' the womanly voice sounded in Kimiko's head again.

"No! I'm not making him do that!" Kimiko yelled at her.

'_Relax...He'll be completely fine if you succumb to the power. You yourself will become stonger, faster, more powerful. You just need to trust your instincts,_' the voice faded into oblivion in a motherly tone that made the girl want to trust her. And so she did. A wave of calm passed over her body and everything seemed to start moving in slow motion.

"Houka, hold them off. Then, as soon as I'm clear make a break for it and follow me. You'll know what to do," she said.

The fox kit nodded as if in a trance. "Whatever you wish..." he said. Then he jumped down from the girl's shoulder and landed on Akamaru, causing him to release Kimiko's pantleg, letting her get up again and take off. She heard Kiba try to bypass the two animals, but fail. Houka had increased speed and reflexes, so he easily kept both of them at bay.

Even though she didn't hate Kiba or want to cause him harm, she had to get away from him. She was just too hurt and angry.

It was then that she realized that she had not been paying attention to what was going on around her. When she looked around herself, she realized that she was moving at an incredible speed. She only realized this due to her body's movement, on account of her enhanced vision and reflexes. Not even a train running at full speed could keep up with her. In fact, she probably looked like a blur to anyone she passed.

Then she looked up, feeling something approaching, and moved to the left just in time to avoid felling a huge oak tree. She could feel Houka approaching, and just as quickly as she was moving. Kimiko leaned forward to increase her speed as he took his place on her right shoulder. As she continued her sonic speed jog, Kimiko dodged more trees and a few training ninja. Two of them just so happened to be Naruto and his Pervy Sage. Naruto was learning to walk on water apparently.

She finally slowed to a walk when they were deep in the woods. She was positve that even if Kiba knew where she was, he wouldn't be able to get to her before it got dark, if he was even able to follow her. She had taken a path that went directly through the most dangerous and entrapped areas of the village.

The surge she had felt earlier was dying down now. It actually made her feel weak from what she had felt like before the episode. She was panting really hard and she almost felt nauseous. Kimiko stumbled to a stop and crouched over on one knee, holding herself up with one hand.

"What-the hell-is wrong with me?" she panted out.

'_No need to worry, young one...It will be hard the first few times. It always is..._' the motherly voice cooed.

Kimiko shivered again. No matter how kind the voice sounded, she still wasn't too keen on completely trusting it...

"What-do you-mean?" she asked, trying to keep herself propped up.

'_Don't worry...It will get easier with time and experience. Now, you're just going to fall asleep for a while..._' the voice said.

The girl's eyes widened and she gasped. "What?!" she breathed out in shock. Her arm shook; it couldn't keep her up much longer.

'_Calm down child...You'll be just fine,_' the voice said. '_The sleep is only a rejuvinating process, just as it is naturally._'

Kimiko slowly lowered herself to the ground. Even if she wanted to resist - and she wasn't so sure she did now, seeing the logic in the voice's argument - she was too tired to. Her eyes were getting too heavy to keep open and she couldn't even feel her limbs anymore.

"What if...I don't want...to...go to sleep?" she asked inbetween yawns, struggling to stay awake.

'_You will sleep...whether you like it or not. You are too weak to form a sentence let alone stay awake,_' the voice coaxed.

"Houka, go to sleep..." Kimiko yawned.

"Yeah," he yawned back. "Whatever." Then he collapsed on her back and fell asleep upon contact. She was asleep within the next few seconds.


End file.
